Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Leirion Gaylor Baird
2019 - Present
2027
6
Leirion Gaylor Baird is the Mayor of Lincoln in Nebraska. She assumed office on May 20, 2019. Her current term ends in 2027.
Baird ran for re-election for Mayor of Lincoln in Nebraska. She won in the general election on May 2, 2023.
Although candidates had the option to file with political parties, city elections were nonpartisan and political parties did not appear on the ballot. Baird filed as a Democratic candidate in 2019.[1]
Baird was an at-large representative on the Lincoln City Council in Nebraska from 2013 to 2019.
Biography
Gaylor Baird earned a B.A. in history from Yale University and a master's degree in comparative social policy from Oxford University.[2]
Before joining the city council, Gaylor Baird was a member of the Lincoln/Lancaster County Planning Commission. Her professional experience includes work as a management consultant, a city budget and policy analyst, the director of an enrichment program for children from low-income communities, and the development director for an Americorps youth development program. Gaylor Baird has also served as a co-chair of Friendship Home's Keys of Hope campaign, on the Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent's Community Advisory County and the University of Nebraska President's Advisory Council, and on the boards of the Lincoln Community Foundation, Family Service, the Friends of the Pioneers Park Nature Center, and the Friends of the Lincoln Children's Museum.[3]
Elections
2023
See also: Mayoral election in Lincoln, Nebraska (2023)
General election
General election for Mayor of Lincoln
Incumbent Leirion Gaylor Baird defeated Suzanne Geist in the general election for Mayor of Lincoln on May 2, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Leirion Gaylor Baird (Nonpartisan) | 54.7 | 44,496 |
 | Suzanne Geist (Nonpartisan) | 45.1 | 36,727 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 192 | ||
| Total votes: 81,415 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Lincoln
Incumbent Leirion Gaylor Baird and Suzanne Geist defeated Stan Parker in the primary for Mayor of Lincoln on April 4, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Leirion Gaylor Baird (Nonpartisan) | 49.8 | 29,216 |
| ✔ | | Suzanne Geist (Nonpartisan) | 33.0 | 19,377 |
| Stan Parker (Nonpartisan) | 17.2 | 10,071 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 54 | ||
| Total votes: 58,718 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2019
See also: Mayoral election in Lincoln, Nebraska (2019)
General election
General election for Mayor of Lincoln
Leirion Gaylor Baird defeated Cyndi Lamm in the general election for Mayor of Lincoln on May 7, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Leirion Gaylor Baird (Nonpartisan) | 54.5 | 33,692 |
 | Cyndi Lamm (Nonpartisan) | 45.3 | 27,994 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 176 | ||
| Total votes: 61,862 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Lincoln
Leirion Gaylor Baird and Cyndi Lamm defeated Jeff Kirkpatrick, Krystal Gabel, and Rene Solc in the primary for Mayor of Lincoln on April 9, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Leirion Gaylor Baird (Nonpartisan) | 41.9 | 21,660 |
| ✔ | | Cyndi Lamm (Nonpartisan) | 35.8 | 18,527 |
 | Jeff Kirkpatrick (Nonpartisan) | 16.7 | 8,665 | |
 | Krystal Gabel (Nonpartisan) | 4.4 | 2,301 | |
| Rene Solc (Nonpartisan) | 0.9 | 451 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 129 | ||
| Total votes: 51,733 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2017
The city of Lincoln, Nebraska, held a primary election for city council and airport authority board of directors on April 4, 2017. A general election was scheduled for May 2, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was March 3, 2017. The following candidates ran in the general election for an at-large seat on the Lincoln City Council.[4]
| Lincoln City Council, At-Large General Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Leirion Gaylor Baird Incumbent |
20.80% | 22,713 |
| Bennie Shobe |
17.98% | 19,633 |
| Roy Christensen Incumbent |
16.86% | 18,411 |
| Tom Nesbitt | 16.25% | 17,745 |
| Brayden McLaughlin | 14.01% | 15,297 |
| Maggie Mae Squires | 13.96% | 15,246 |
| Write-in votes | 0.15% | 163 |
| Total Votes | 109,208 | |
| Source: Lancaster County Election Commissioner, "Official Final Results," accessed May 10, 2017 | ||
The following candidates ran in the primary election for an at-large seat on the Lincoln City Council.[5]
| Lincoln City Council, At-Large Primary Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Leirion Gaylor Baird Incumbent |
18.60% | 15,502 |
| Roy Christensen Incumbent |
16.08% | 13,400 |
| Tom Nesbitt |
15.54% | 12,953 |
| Bennie Shobe |
14.51% | 12,093 |
| Brayden McLaughlin |
13.97% | 11,643 |
| Maggie Mae Squires |
10.04% | 8,363 |
| Lou Braatz III | 6.11% | 5,093 |
| Deb Andrews | 4.99% | 4,160 |
| Write-in votes | 0.15% | 128 |
| Total Votes | 83,335 | |
| Source: Lancaster County Election Commissioner, "Official Final Results," accessed April 18, 2017 | ||
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Leirion Gaylor Baird did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Leirion Gaylor Baird did not complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
2017
Gaylor Baird's campaign website highlighted the following issues:
| “ | Infrastructure and Economic Growth Lincoln is funding street improvements at historic levels and repairing sidewalks and more miles of water mains each year. Public Safety Quality of Life |
” |
| —Leirion Gaylor Baird's campaign website, (2017)[7] | ||
In response to a question from the Lincoln Journal Star about her goals for the city council, Gaylor Baird said, "I will work to strengthen our neighborhoods and parks for families, grow our local economy to create new jobs and new opportunities, improve our infrastructure, and enhance public safety. I am proud of our city’s progress over the last four years, and I am committed to doing even more to build a strong future for Lincoln."[8] She listed the following as the city's three most important services:
| “ | 1. Public safety is our number one priority and accordingly receives the largest share of the tax-funded budget.
2. Infrastructure such as roads, water mains, sewers, sidewalks, fiber, and utilities provide the backbone for economic growth and job creation. 3. Quality of life services such as parks, playgrounds, trails, pools, and libraries are important to the health and well-being of children and families.[6] |
” |
| —Leirion Gaylor Baird[8] | ||
Noteworthy events
Events and activity following the death of George Floyd
Gaylor Baird was mayor of Lincoln during the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, when events and activity took place in cities across the U.S. following the death of George Floyd. Events in Lincoln, Nebraska began on Friday, May 29, 2020.[9] On May 31, Mayor Leirion Baird (R) declared a state of emergency and instituted a curfew.[10] The Nebraska National Guard was deployed to the city on the same day.[10]
| To read more about the death of George Floyd and subsequent events, click [show] to the right. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Lancaster County, Nebraska, "City of Lincoln/Airport Authority/Lincoln Public Schools Candidate Listing (As of filing deadline on March 7, 2019)," accessed March 8, 2019
- ↑ City of Lincoln, "At-Large - Leirion Gaylor Baird - Chair," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ Re-Elect Leirion - Lincoln City Council, "About," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ City of Lincoln, "Final Candidate Listing," March 3, 2017
- ↑ City of Lincoln, "Final Candidate Listing," March 3, 2017
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Re-Elect Leirion - Lincoln City Council, "Issues," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lincoln Journal Star, "Leirion Gaylor Baird," March 19, 2017
- ↑ ABC 8, "8 officers injured, several businesses vandalized after protest turns violent in Lincoln," May 30, 2020
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 ABC 8, "National Guard activated to aid Lincoln | Curfew issued," May 31, 2020
- ↑ Washington Post, "The death of George Floyd: What video and other records show about his final minutes," May 30, 2020
- ↑ The New York Times, "8 Minutes and 46 Seconds: How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody," May 31, 2020
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 USA Today, "Medical examiner and family-commissioned autopsy agree: George Floyd's death was a homicide," June 1, 2020
- ↑ Associated Press, "Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death," April 20, 2021
- ↑ CNN, "Protests across America after George Floyd's death," accessed June 2, 2020
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedchi1
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Chris Beutler |
Mayor of Lincoln 2019-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Lincoln City Council At-large 2013-2019 |
Succeeded by - |
| |||||||||
 |
State of Nebraska Lincoln (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
